Hard Goodbyes

Today is the day. It is when we had to say goodbye to my (Theresa's) family and it was our last day at Red Door before we leave. Man, no matter how you cut it, this is a hard day.

In our training this summer, they told us about saying "good" goodbyes. They discussed that if it is easy to say goodbye to someone, then there probably isn't a lot of depth to that relationship. We discussed how the harder the goodbye is, the more meaningful that relationship probably was to you. When it is painful to leave someone or a group, it shows how much life and love was given through that person or group of people. Well, I'll tell you what, we are blessed with some VERY deep relationships, because we have had to say some VERY hard goodbyes. 

Will and I are both blessed with incredible families. We both have families who support us and send us back to Africa with their blessing. With that, we are very close to both of our families and although they send us in love, it is very painful for them to see us go and for us to leave them. We have 6 beautiful nieces and nephews whom we love and have loved being able to watch them grow up over the past two years. Saying goodbye to family is a hard goodbye. 

In the two years that we have lived in Bloomington after returning from Nigeria, we have been blessed with great friends. Will has remained in relationship with friends from Bloomington that he has known most of his life and I have met new friends as this has been my first time calling Bloomington, IN home. I was blessed beyond measure by the teaching job that I had last year and the year before and met incredible people who are now close friends. We also had the privilege of living with a sweet, sweet friend last year and walking through life with her. We have been blessed by the love of many friends in our church and our community. Saying goodbye to these friends and friends in other cities are hard goodbyes.

Will and I with our good friends, Andrew and Daniela

Our church community praying over us

We have an incredible church community. Red Door Church started when we were living in Nigeria. We have had the privilege of not only attending this church on Sundays, but claiming the people of Red Door as our community for the past two years (and even before we returned from Nigeria). This is a church filled with incredible people from all different backgrounds who love the Lord and are working to love Him well and follow His call in their lives. They are people who love each other well and care deeply about those around them. They are honest with their faults and quick to forgive and offer forgiveness. We love this community and are so blessed to have their support and love behind us as we go to South Sudan. Saying goodbye to the Red Door Community is a hard goodbye. 

We are grateful that our goodbyes are difficult because this means we are blessed by great relationships. We have so many incredible people in our lives and are blown away by the love and support everyone has shown us. Although it is incredibly painful, we will walk through all of these goodbyes well because of what they represent. These hard goodbyes represent relationships that we wouldn't trade for the world. We are blessed beyond measure by the people in our lives. Thank you, family, friends and church for making our goodbyes painful. We love you and know that in reality this isn't goodbye, because you all are going with us through your prayers, love and support, and for that, we are grateful.